title: Still no evidence of new variant Chlamydia trachomatis in England and Wales.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  New variant Chlamydia trachomatis (nvCT) remains an important public health concern and in 2008 four cases of nvCT were reported in Scotland. The present study set out to determine whether nvCT was present in England and Wales.
  
  
  METHODS
  1054 clinical specimens, which had been confirmed as chlamydia positive (using an nvCT unaffected platform) at nine different diagnostic laboratories throughout England and Wales, were examined for the presence of the 377 bp nvCT deletion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  92% (968/1054) of specimens examined were confirmed as wild-type C. trachomatis. The remaining 86 specimens were found to be untypeable, which was probably due to low levels of DNA. No nvCT specimens were identified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is currently no evidence that nvCT is present in England and Wales; however, laboratories using nvCT-affected platform should remain vigilant.
authors.affiliation: Sexually Transmitted Bacteria Reference Laboratory, Health Protection Agency, Centre for Infections, London, NW9 5HT, UK. Sarah.Alexander@hpa.org.uk
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Filomeno
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Coelho da Silva
authors.forename: Fathiya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alhadi
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ison
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004739:England; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012606:Scotland; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial